This is going to sound pompous, but travel really does teach you as much about your home country as it does the places you visit. I’d already realised that the UK had a bad reputation for food, weather and dental hygiene – but coffee as well?
I looked around the language lesson, where the French, Spanish and Germans were doubled over with laughter in response to Sergio’s impromptu performance of charades. His description of English coffee apparently translated into “sockwater juice” in the Latin languages and “dishwater juice” in German.
I shuddered, remembering the half-a-teaspoon of instant granules I’d served the boiler repair man only that morning. Would my house have burst into flames by the time I got home?
Over time, I’ve developed a taste for these thimblefuls of palpitation-inducing syrup, but I still wonder……is British coffee a laughing stock everywhere?
The British might not be known for their coffee, but they DID give the world scones and clotted cream, right? Lovely on a drizzly morning…
…AND they provide plenty of drizzly mornings!
I'm American and I have to say that we too have a bit of a "bad reputation" abroad when it comes to our coffee… in fact, after much time living in Spain, I've had more than one Spaniard ask me how I drink that "flavored water" that we call coffee back in the USA. The USA also seems to have the reputation of being "the land of the hamburger" on the world scene — but I guess that's a comment for another post and another day. ;-)
Caught red handed. I have a mug of flavoured water in my hands right now…
Absolutely Abi. When I moved here from Australia I was appalled at the standard of coffee wheeled out by the likes of Costa. When I saw how they make a latte (froth the milk up to a scalding temperature and then dump the espresso shot on top) my jaw dropped and I vowed never to drink Costa coffee again.
There are a few cafes around London that make an awesome coffee, but these are few and far between unfortunately.